


A Right to be Scared

by Leonawriter



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Post-Anime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-18 23:45:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1447363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonawriter/pseuds/Leonawriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had a right to be scared, he thought, and so they did. But Rin has had enough of Yukio keeping things bottled up and to himself, and decides to do something about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Right to be Scared

The bell rang, and Yukio smiled at his new first year class (mouth closed, like it normally was, but even more necessary in the past several months), closed his book, and told them what their homework was going to be, expected for next week. Oh, and don’t forget that the first test was going to be in two weeks’ time…

He left the room, scratching behind his (still strange) ears with a sigh.

It wasn’t as though he wasn’t used to it. It was simply that each time he saw one of _his own students_ flinch away, each time he saw even one of them hesitate near him, each time someone, including himself, did a double take when he realised that he would have trouble handling certain ingredients - either raw or ready mixed - he… remembered.

_After all, I’m the same kind of monster I’ve been having to warn them about. Teach them how to kill. Worse - because through my misjudgement, I caused people, even those close to me, to be hurt._

_I could have killed them._

It wouldn’t have been him. He knew that - he’d been told often enough. But it still would have been his hands doing the deed, so to speak. He’d been able to break out only because of Rin, but if it’d been even a bit later… then how much would have been _his_ fault…?

He was distracted from his thoughts by a ‘light’ punch in the shoulder, the perpetrator obvious from the fact that he hadn’t even noticed him come up.

"Yeesh, Yukio. That what you’re doing now? Scaring little girls?"

He frowned, and adjusted his glasses. “Nii-san, I wasn’t scaring anyone - I was just walking along back to the dorm.”

"Yeah… you wanna explain why I saw that kid running away from you then?"

Yukio blinked. His heart sank, and he found himself mentally swearing.

"I don’t know what you mean."

"And I thought I _told_ you not to keep things from you big brother any more, hm?”

Rin really could get infuriating when he tried putting on the whole ‘mature big brother’ thing - especially since it usually didn’t suit him. He sighed, reaching up to scratch at a spot the fine hairs of his tail had tickled.

"It’s nothing."

"Doesn’t look like nothing to me."

"Nii-san… couldn’t you just _leave it alone?”_

He regretted his sharp tone and the way he left so abruptly not even minutes later, upon remembering the hurt look on his brother’s face, and what had happened the last time he’d tried to keep his emotions in like that. He’d apologise later.

…

'Later' came and went, although not entirely through any fault of his own. Rin simply didn't arrive back at the dorm until Yukio was ready to get into bed, and by that time he was simply too tired to think whatever he might have been planning to say through properly, and Rin didn't spare him a second glace as he got changed and into bed.

The next morning was a no-go too, since Yukio was up and ready to go long before he knew Rin would be, no matter whether he tried waking his brother up or not, and had to head off first thing. Classes separated them as always, although he continued to be amazed that Rin had even managed to stay in school, regardless that the principal had made it clear his brother would continue to attend no matter that his grades were low on several occasions.

In fact, the next time they even saw each other was at lunch, and that was only a short two words, even though Rin didn’t seem too upset or distracted by anything.

Still. Wasn’t that just Rin all over?

Normally, he would have had class with his brother later on, but it took him a moment before he remembered again - Rin had, beyond belief and through some miracle that was more blood, sweat, tears and Shiemi’s cooking, been able to pass the exorcist exams at the end of the year along with the others.

On the one hand, he was both happy and relieved that he didn’t have to see his brother’s face looking up at him from a year behind. On the other, it continued to make things awkward.

In fact, they didn’t _really_ have a proper chance to talk again until the next day at lunch. And when that time came, Yukio was surprised, to say the least, to find his brother was approaching him as he ate not with an understandably sour look on his face, but looking suspiciously cheerful… and tailed - figuratively and literally, since Rin’s tail was out - by a small girl, who couldn’t be more than ten years old.

"Hoi, Yukio! This here’s Rika-chan, and she got a masshou back at that time, from the hobgoblins!"

Yukio found himself spitting out a perfectly good mouthful of rice.

"N-nii-san, you-!"

"See, Rika-chan? My little brother’s just a great big dork! He’s not scary at all unless he’s setting pop quizzes!" Rin paused. "Or if he’s shooting at stuff. But then it’s a cool kinda scary, ‘cause he’s on your side, see?"

Yukio sighed, and looked away from the hole his brother was digging them into. Why _shouldn’t_ the girl be afraid of him?

"Hey - stop hiding behind me and go talk to him!" He narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to focus on his food. The girl would run away, soon. And then his fool of a brother would see where this had gotten them both. "He’s just a big scaredy cat sometimes, yeah?"

To hell with the food.

"Nii-san, don’t-"

He turned around, and found himself looking at the girl, who jumped, and looked back at Rin - who made shooing motions with his hands - before turning back to him, red faced.

He rubbed at his head, which still stung from jerking back from the shock of seeing her there and being hit against the tree he’d been leaning against.

"S-sorry I ran away from you, O-Okumura-sensei… I- I was just _scared_ , and I didn’t think… that maybe you might be scared as well. So… sorry!”

He couldn’t help but _stare_ , completely amazed and completely not expecting any such thing to come out of her mouth after being told that, essentially, _his_ actions caused her to be able, at that age, to see demons. The things that had at a younger age given him such nightmares.

He caught himself, then - _it’s rude to stare like that, you’ll scare her again -_ and gave her a smile. Reached out a hand, and put it, if awkwardly, on her head.

"It’s all right - Rika-chan, wasn’t it? But… thank you. It means a lot that you said that."

The girl went red again, and he wondered whether he should have said something else, or something _more_.

"A-ah… Okumura-sensei… do- do you… like Rin-nii-chan… um?"

Puzzled, Yukio looked back at his brother, who had been starting to try to hide his laughter. In between gasping for air, the ex- exwire pointed at his… _tail?_   Ah.

"I- I usually keep mine out of sight, Rika-chan."

"I- I’m so sorry!"

…It wouldn’t take much after that to get him to show it to her, though, because no matter how embarrassing it was, how completely _strange_ it was, he couldn’t get over how someone who’d been so rightfully scared of him could be calmed by something that should show how _demonic_ he was.

…

AN: I couldn’t help it. The sheer potential for fluff and angst all in one fic - _and the tail references that I could not keep out._ Made into a real fic rather than a vague idea because of [squall-leonhardt](http://tmblr.co/mh0ZdN6BjJyG-T9SC1vs1JA)'s art [right here](http://squall-leonhardt.tumblr.com/post/82180029433/rin-yukio-could-you-not-look-at-everyone-like).

And yes, I do headcanon that the little girl becomes an exorcist later on, as based on the [original idea](http://leonawriter.tumblr.com/post/81293029392/what-if-what-if-after-the-end-of-series-events).


End file.
